Confidently commenting on the execution of Libya’s long-time dictator, Barack Obama stated that “the death of Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi showed that our role in protecting the Libyan people, and helping them break free from a tyrant, was the right thing to do.” About his own decision to pull all U.S. troops from Iraq in two months’ […]
The world’s longest ruling head of state, Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhafi (the correct transliteration of his name), would have been ruler of Libya for exactly 42 years on Sept. 1. As he leaves the scene, his wretched reign deserves an appraisal. Qaddafi took power at the age of 27 in the waning days of Gamal Abdel Nasser, […]
Libyan rebels take heed. Since relatively little remains left over from the Gaddafi regime, the transition process provides the first chance in the Arab Spring for national replanting in newly plowed soil. Neither Egypt nor Tunisia enjoys such an opportunity. Lest your opportune moment be let slip, cautions and recommendations carry more urgency. Invariably the […]
Does an armed plebiscite constitute an ethical tool of democracy? The victory of the rebels in Libya (August 2011) calls to mind the old controversy about revolution, and whether citizens can rightly rebel against their long established government. Insofar as the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi escalated into six months of civil war, Libya (as distinguished […]
Since January this year, the world has been watching the Middle East with anticipation and hope. A cascading series of uprisings in the Arab world began in Tunisia with the overthrow of President Ben Ali. In one country after another, populist insurgents were pitted against autocratic dictators. Some – like Mubarak of Egypt, Gaddafi of […]
President Obama’s recent explanation for militarily engaging Libya is yet another example of how U.S. leaders increasingly rationalize their policies via sentimental and idealistic platitudes, rather than reality or the long view—or just plain common sense. In a speech replete with moralizing intonations, Obama did manage to evoke U.S. “interests”—six times—though he never explained what […]
The military intervention in Libya by the United States and NATO offers new evidence that the just war theory stands in need of rethinking. The theory is fine as far as it goes. The problem is it doesn’t go far enough. People who say the just war theory should be scrapped because modern warfare makes […]
The Libya situation is complicated. I envy no president stuck with the task. Among the complexities, the most daunting unknown is what’s behind the opposition. We would all like to see Moammar Gaddafi tossed to the ash-heap of history, but the rub is who, or what, would replace him. What a tragedy it would be […]
After decades of stasis, the Middle East is in uproar. With too much going on to focus on a single place, here’s a review of developments in four key countries. Libya: With most Americans not quite realizing it, their government haphazardly went to war on Mar. 19 versus Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi’s Libya. Hostilities were barely acknowledged, […]
As with Egypt, American sympathies instinctively side with Libya’s oppositional forces as they seek to overthrow the tyrant Qaddafi—and rightfully so. But where U.S. foreign policy is concerned, prudence is in order. This is especially the case considering that the Obama administration has evinced inconsistency, if not incoherence, regarding the Middle East: vowing not to […]
The official hymn of the U.S. Marine Corps famously begins with “From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country’s battles on the land as on the sea.” The reference to Tripoli alludes to the Battle of Derna of 1805, the first overseas land combat fought by U.S. troops and […]
